1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of printing systems, and in particular, to methods and systems for generating escalated intervention notifications for a printer based on dynamically changing parameters.
2. Statement of the Problem
Printing systems associated with data processing enterprises generally include a localized printer controller within the printing system. The printer controller controls overall operation of the printing system including, for example, host interfacing, page description language interpretation and rasterization, and lower level process control or interface features of the printing engine associated with the printing system. Host interaction may include appropriate adapters for coupling the printing system to one or more host systems utilizing one or more communication media and one or more communication protocols. Print jobs (often referred to as “raw print jobs”) are received by the printing system from one or more attached host computer systems. The raw print jobs are generally encoded in the form of a page description language such as PostScript, HP PCL, IBM IPDS (“intelligent printer data stream”), etc. In addition, raw print jobs may be encoded as simple character streams (ASCII or EBCDIC) with no page description formatting associated therewith.
In addition, a printer controller of a printing system may include features to monitor status of the printing system to detect any status that requires operator intervention that is or may soon prevent continued operation of the printing system. For example, if the printing system is running low on toner or ink, operation may be paused until the ink or toner supply is replenished. Out of paper conditions, paper jam conditions, and many other exemplary states of the printing system that require operator intervention may be sensed by operation of the printer controller.
Simple network management protocol (“SNMP”) and other device status and control protocols standardize communications between peripheral devices and management systems to permit exchange of notification messages therebetween. For example, when a printer controller of a printing system senses an intervention state of the underlying printing system, an SNMP exchange or other message exchange may notify the management system and/or an appropriate operator of the condition. In addition to SNMP exchanges, other messaging exchanges such as email, text messaging, so called “instant messaging”, telephonic messaging, paging and the like have been employed to communicate the need for intervention to management systems and/or operators.
Though not specifically provided for in SNMP or other messaging protocols, some present intervention notification architectures allow for multiple messages to be sent to multiple receivers of a notification message. Such multiple transmissions allow multiple systems and/or operators to be notified of the intervention state. For example, a “key operator” and a “helpdesk representative” in an enterprise may both be notified regarding a particular intervention state of the printing system. Further, some known architectures allow for multiple intervention notification messages to be generated at different times—e.g., automatically escalating the status if a first notification message fails to resolve the problem. As presently practiced, a first notification message (or messages) may be sent when the intervention state is first sensed. If the condition is not addressed within a predetermined period of time, a second message (or a plurality of second messages) is sent to escalate the condition in hopes of clearing the condition to thereby allow continued operation of the printing system.
Though present notification architectures allow for some flexibility in generating and escalating the notification messaging, it remains an ongoing problem to provide still further flexibility in the type, number, timing and other aspects of notification messages, and especially escalated notification messages, generated from a printing system in response to sensing any of a variety of intervention states.